Bio:

Ryner is an eccentric young man who is often misunderstood by those around him.

A student of the Grey College, his capacity for learning surpassed most of his peers. While you would think this to be a valuable trait, it proved to be a source of many issues others had with him, the school faculty in particular. He would constantly move beyond the lectures, skipping ahead of others and then complain about how slow the classes were. Some tried to humble the boy with subjecting him to final exam tests during mid-semester only to be driven mad even further as he proceeded to ace them each and every single time.

There was also the matter of him being unable or unwilling to stick with a single School of Magic, professing that a true scholar of the arts wouldn’t want to limit themselves with such restrictions. Of course that was a whole other kettle of fish, the fact he didn’t seem to acknowledge the notion of restrictions even when it came to forbidden knowledge, prompting his research on the ancient cataclysm that could have very easily resulted in the entire world being destroyed had such destructive forces run amok…

Eventually, his special needs required that he be separated from the rest and placed into his own private program headed up by the only professor at the college who actually admired and believed in Ryner’s possibly unlimited potential. Obviously, this only proved to ostracize him from his peers and he quickly gained the reputation of an outcast.

Though that reputation had long since been in the works from the start. Ryner was not born a noble, he was an adopted orphan from the low quarter…a mere commoner seen as no more than some insect by Greyhawk’s standards.

The story is that Ryner was allegedly found by the Church Sisters on the outskirts of Greyhawk, alone and with nothing. To this day the identity of his parents remains a mystery, assuming they are even still alive. He grew up living with the other orphans, a common occurrence sadly. However, unlike the rest his curious nature and inquisitive mind gifted him with a high intellect that was rare among those of his social status. He also had a very strange affinity for Magic, always wanting to go into the city in hopes of catching performances.

One such trip to the market resulted in him finding a dropped spell book on the ground. Instead of returning it to the man he saw drop it, Ryner kept the book for himself and began to secretly read it at night. He would later start to practice on his own, discovering that he had an innate talent as he easily conjured a sword…an odd looking weapon from his dreams. It was as if the blade was apart of him, an extension of his body.

Then the day came when guards appeared, accompanied by the wizard from the market. As the men attempted to take the boy into custody, one of the Sisters tried to get between them and got swatted out of the way. The attack triggered something deep within him and thus the sword manifested, striking back at the guards as one was disarmed and another injured. The wizard then stepped forward and began to clap his hands, praising the child for his demonstration of such raw skill.

After that, the guards were sent away and the man offered to adopt the boy. Ryner’s actions, though he had only be acting in defense of those he had come to call his family, caused those very same people to gaze upon him in fear and disdain. The other children called him a monster and threw stones while the Sisters didn’t know what to think. He had lost another family…

Lord Darvos Lebrant, the last of his family line. He was an official for the Grey College, a former resident of the High Quarter till his wife died unexpectedly. He eventually moved to an estate beyond the city walls, a private dwelling nice and secluded. After being adopted by the mysterious man, Ryner was given a place to live down in the basement which used to be the servant quarters. The boy was never allowed upstairs and always had his meals delivered to him by the Unseen Servants that wandered the grounds with their ghostly presence.

The Lord was very cold and distant, never wanting much to do with his newly acquired son. He pulled strings to allow Ryner enrollment at the prestigious school. His Special Studies Professor turned out to be more of a father figure for him, always showing concern for the young man’s living situation. But it never really bothered him much, Ryner never had much growing up and he just threw himself into his classes to occupy himself.

Of course, everything changed one fateful night…

A nightmare had him tossing and turning in bed. A crack of thunder from the storm outside woke him up just in time to notice Lord Darvos standing over him with a dagger. Ryner defended himself, getting into a violent struggle with the man. He managed to turn the blade back on him as they fell to the ground, killing his own father instead. Then everything went dark. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the floor beside the corpse. He had blacked out for a few hours.

He reported what happened and was placed into custody. Pending an investigation of the crime scene, Ryner was released with all charges being dropped. He was taken in by his mentor who had overseen the investigation of Darvos. It turned out that the entire upstairs area of the manor was saturated with dark magic, the walls covered in markings with a recurring theme showing throughout the architecture; the brand of Tharizdun, the God of Eternal Darkness. As it turns out, Ryner was intended to be a blood sacrifice for whatever insane ritual Darvos was trying to perform.

As the only living heir, ownership of the manor was handed over to Ryner. Most of what Darvos had left of his family’s wealth had been confiscated by the city. The rest was donated to the church where Ryner grew up to help the orphans. The estate itself was burned to the ground with only the basement being left intact. It was the only way to purge the place of the evil energy.

Eventually, Ryner decided to leave Greyhawk on an adventure to see the rest of the world and conduct his own investigation of the ancient cataclysm. The college approved his request, though it was more like a convenient way for them to get rid of him. He embarked on his journey not long after, making plans to meet up with a long time pen pal of his, Mystan Thava, a Dragonborn Sorceress who had also been studying what happened in the past. Hopefully her assistance and his potential success would grant her admission to the Grey College.